At 5.40 pm.
"There are two in the parking ground," Marie's voice came through the phone, "But you have to go there. Someone will come to pick you up. Black SUV."
"Understood," Yana dashed down the staircase. She was sure she heard someone entering the apartment after she managed to evade the sniper shots.
"Dammit, they really want me dead."
"You won't die so easily," Marie's incessant tapping appeared, "Are you sure_ They seem serious about having my brain splattered everywhere."
"Don't be silly," Marie seriously thought this was some harmless situation.
Yana heard footsteps. They were rushing after her. But the footsteps not only came upstairs but also from below, "I'm cornered."
"That's fine. Go to the 15th floor, there'll be another staircase. Emergency."
"On the 15th? What's up with the layout?"
It was a good thing that Yana didn't decide to wear heels or else she would be in pain right now. Everything happened so fast that Yana didn't have time to prepare anything and she had to leave everything in the apartment.
The footsteps drew closer, but Yana managed to reach the 15th floor and found the staircase, "Head straight to the underground parking. There shouldn't be anyone."
"Are you sure or you believe?"
"I'm sure," Marie wasn't in the mood to bicker with Yana.
"I've to hang up, good luck. You'll be fine," with that Marie really hung up.
It seemed like Marie was quite busy but Yana didn't mind. Soon, she arrived at the parking lot.
Coincidentally, the black SUV came the same time Yana ran out of the door.
She rushed towards it and slammed the door shut, "Go!"
There were two cars following them. Yana took a deep breath and looked in the rearview mirror.
"My lady, trust my skills, they'll soon leave us alone."
Yana found the speech pattern familiar and turned to her side, to her surprise she knew the driver.
"You are-"
"Jin, my Lady," Jin grinned as he cut a sharp corner and Yana was thrown against the window.
"Don't call me that! I've told you!"
Jin. It was the weird guy she met at the banquet who gave her the keys to her car. Yana hadn't expected to see him so soon again. Marie seemed to like to use this guy a lot. Yana still was wary of him though.
"How far are we going ?" Yana wanted to get through this as soon as possible. Luka was still waiting.
"Huh? You haven't been told?" Jin's confusion perplexed Yana.
"What do you mean?"
"We're going back to the base."
"What?"
"You're done with this mission."
***
"Boos, boss? Are you ok?" Bao rushed as fast as he could to the apartment when Luka called him at 10 pm. Bao was happy about going off work early since his boss had a date with Yana, so he already nestled in his bed to watch some TV and eat fried chicken. Who knew once his boss called, he sounded so sad and hurt.
Bao at first scowled knowing his demon boss was going to overwork him but he was wrong. Just what happened?
"D-Did you have a fight with Miss Yana?" Bao carefully looked at the mess of an apartment.
"No."
"No?" Bao gulped. It didn't sound very convincing.
"Where are the orphans?"
"I made them stay somewhere else. It's not safe here."
"I-I can see that," Bao awkwardly walked towards his boss who dejectedly sat on the sofa playing with his phone.
"Boss, what happened here?" Bao was curious and couldn't help but ask.
The next second he regretted it. His boss' lifeless eyes brought Bao so much pain he began to curse Yana. Just what did that woman do again?
How could she feed his boss' sincerity to the dogs?
"Bao, find her."
"Find-" Bao instantly understood. Yana disappeared again?
Then it clicked. The state of the room, the disappearance of Yana-
"Boss, did you call the police?"
Bao was ready to pull out his phone when Luka cut him off, "No, she's fine. I just called her. She's… leaving me. Go… just find her."
Luka didn't cry. Bao had never seen his boss in such a state before.
The lonely back of Luka who left the apartment was so heartbreaking that Bao shed some tears in his mind.
"You could've been nicer," Jin tried to break the icy atmosphere as he and Yana got out of the car and headed to the plane.
"There's no need. I was nice enough to call him."
"Isn't that because he might've started a police search for you?" Jin sweatdropped as he followed Yana climbing the stairs of the private jet.
"Why are you coming along?"
"Hey, I'm also part-" but Yana didn't bother with him and just turned around and vanished into the jet.
She sat down by the window and closed her eyes. Why did she feel this way? There was an unexpected pain in her heart that didn't go away no matter what.
Yana had no choice but to leave. She couldn't follow the clues that must be why she was in pain. Giving up on an important trail was painful. But it was Roy's order. She had to depart, come back, receive some more training and go to her next mission.
She failed. There was no excuse. Yana couldn't even say goodbye to the children, Seli and Melinda. They would be given some random excuse about her departure.
But this was for the best. Yana shouldn't have any lingering attachments. She couldn't get sidetracked. She had to complete her goal. To take revenge. To take revenge for her parents. On the murderers. To take over the Elite Force her parents have created to aid the governments and protect the world.
To take revenge on 'them' and eliminate their organisation, their presence and influence over this world. To stop their plan. Yana has always wanted to know what happened to her parents, why they were targeted, she would make those pay that caused all of this suffering. The life Yana lived before wasn't her real life. Yana's home belonged to the EF. That was her only purpose in life.
***
The next day. Press conference. City M. A live broadcast was globally streamed. Everyone anticipated what Nixo's CEO, who was caught up in so many scandals coming from the '3-comps- scandal' had to say.
Out of the three companies, the public had the least hatred directed to Nixo.
However, this still didn't mean that they liked the CEO. The public couldn't believe how brazen Nixo's CEO was to create so much buzz for his public appearance.
Then the anticipated moment arrived. Yet his unexpected words shocked everyone, "Everyone, this is the rise of a new era for us, for the business world and you. A new era to strive for a better world, free of scandals and corrupted people. Nixo, along with other companies that'll be announced in the coming times, have decided to link ourselves with the government. This means we will merge into a new type of company that will create a new future."
His words fell on silence. Everyone was perplexed.
No one knew what was going on. No one understood his words or what he meant.
It was all gibberish to them. However, Paul only looked at the camera and smiled before he stepped down from the stage and left as soon as he came. The mark of a new era and future? What was this about?